- 6 - 



"Most strawberries produced in this area of England are grown 

 under cloches. Cloches are glass coverings placed over the straw- 

 berry row to promote early season fruit maturity. Utilizing this 

 very specialized method, growers have been able to produce 3-4 tons 

 of berries per acre and gross $6 ,000-$9 ,000 per acre. The average 

 berry price in recent years has been about 84 cents per pound. 



"Growers use yery limited quantities of nitrogen in their straw- 

 berry production. Large quantities of nitrogen result in excessive 

 leaf development but not in increased fruit development, and also 

 result in delayed fruit maturity. They are more interested in grow- 

 ing berries (not leaves) and in obtaining early ripening. 



"Studies on root development in a special laboratory at East 

 Mailing reveal that fruit trees have two flushes of root growth. 

 The first period of root growth occurs before the period of active 

 vegetative growth, and the second and more extensive root growth 

 period occurs after the vegetative flush of growth. Strawberries 

 planted in March had roots extending to a 4-foot depth by early 

 August. 



"A study on light intensity throughout the tree indicates a 

 good correlation between fruit size and light intensity. Fruit 

 size was observed to decrease when fruit was produced more than one 

 yard from the outside periphery of the tree. East Mailing scien- 

 tists have also cut the wood of some large apple trees, separating 

 it into one-, two-, and three-year-old wood. As much as 80 per cent 

 of the wood from some trees was scaffold wood. This would indicate 

 that for very large, older trees, much of the plant's food producing 

 Capacity was being diverted to maintaining scaffold wood rather 

 than to maintaining producive fruiting wood." 



*************** 



PENNSYLVANIA APPLE INDUSTRY 



William J. Lord 

 Department of Plant and Soil Sciences 



C.A. Porter, from Pennsylvania State University, reported in 

 Farm Economics , August, 1967, that apple production should increase 

 in Pennsylvania in the future. Although the total acreage in apples 

 declined 3 per cent between 1964 and 1967, increased tree numbers 

 per acre in young plantings should more than offset this deficit. 

 Crops of 13 to 14 million bushels are predicted by 1970 if weather 

 Conditions are as favorable as for the 11 million bushel crops of 

 1964 and 1965. 



The 1967 apple tree survey revealed that 83 per cent of all 

 trees are Delicious, Golden Delicious, York, Rome or Stayman. Jon- 

 athan and Mcintosh account for an additional 8 per cent of the trees 

 According to Porter, the two most noteworthy changes regarding vari- 



